Rosberg heads Friday practice 2

Mercedes power continued their assault at the top of the timesheets today, with Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes on top.

Mercedes-powered cars took the top 4 spaces on the timesheets, with Hamilton, Schumacher and Button behind Rosberg. Meanwhile, Sebastien Buemi got no running with his Toro Rosso due to a problem, as well as Karun Chandhok, who also had technical issues.

It was another poor session for Red Bull. After slow times in FP1, the team were looking to improve in the afternoon. But, Sebastian Vettel was caught out twice in the final corner, while Webber was sidelined for most of the session because of a driveshaft problem.

Sauber improved a bit from this morning, as both of their drivers got 10th and 11th best times respectively. Their tyre managment seemed pretty good today, so it seems that Bridgestone’s analysis was correct.

Lotus established themselves as the quickest of the three new teams today, with Trulli and Kovalainen taking 18th and 19th places, with Glock and Di Grassi of Virgin just behind them. The fact that Timo Glock got even a half-respectible time was impressive, seeing as he only got 3 laps in. HRT improved slightly from FP1. Although Chanhok has still yet to set a lap, Bruno Senna managed 17 laps, although he was 11 seconds off the pace. But, near the end of the session, his car lurched and skidded off the road at the heavy-braking Turn 1. It later turned out that a wheelnut had broken off.